The United Nations urged Indonesia on Thursday to treat drug abusers like patients, not criminals, saying the shift could help prevent an explosion in HIV infections.

The roughly 28,000 drug users jailed by Indonesia should be in clinics, not detention facilities, said Christian Kroll, the U.N. global coordinator for HIV/AIDS.

"People who injected drugs have a disease," Kroll told reporters in the capital, Jakarta. "People who have a disease don't belong in prison. They need to be treated."

Up to 25 percent of convicted drug users in Indonesian prisons are believed to have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, the National AIDS Commission estimates. Drug use is rampant in detention facilities and each year dozens of inmates die of AIDS while in custody.

Indonesia has one of Asia's fastest-growing HIV rates, with up to 290,000 infections among 235 million people, fueled mainly by the use of injected drugs and prostitution.

Indonesia, which has just 45 drug rehabilitation centers, urgently needs to expand its drug treatment capacity, Kroll said.

The government has taken initial steps to decriminalize drug use, said Nafsiah Mboi, a senior National AIDS Commission official, while also warning that clinics would be overwhelmed if drug users were released at once.

UN urges Indonesia to stop imprisoning drug users | The Jakarta Post

To quote the Church Lady, "Well, isn't that special?"

Since the UN has no actual authority, I'd tell them to pack sand. The choice to ingest substances is not a disease. Having laws against ingesting substances is ridiculous but Indonesia is well within its sovereign rights. These people choose to ingest these substances and choose to do things to contract HIV; so, let them die instead of exposing them to the general population in a country not exactly known for having the most sanitary conditions.

I know, I know, some of you object to my social darwinist tendencies.

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A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

Wait a minute. 28,000 people jailed for drug use out of a nation of 235 million people??? What is that, 0.0001%?

And 25% of them (7,000 people) are believed to have HIV?

The UN must be bored.

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"Oh, bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round...

Amazing, eh?

But I figured that you'd be all in favor of the UN sticking its nose in Indonesia's internal affairs.

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A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

Depends. While I generally like the idea of the UN, and there being greater communication between nations, greater consistency and all that, the classification of drug abuse as a "disease" is what I think is a waste of time, and isn't what I think the UN should be doing.

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"Oh, bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round...

I've been to Indonesia (I spent a month teaching there in 2006) and have seen some of the conditions first hand: I would definitely recommend not subjecting the rest of the population to HIV-infected addicts.

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A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

My condolences, Chan. Hope you never lose another bet.

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"Oh, bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round...

Why? Other than the conditions I was referring to, I actually enjoyed Indonesia and wouldn't mind going back.

Huh?

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A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

Ah. Sorry, from your tone ("conditions first hand") it sounded like you hated it. Why only a month?

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"Oh, bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round...

During the month I was there the regional government had lost its contract with the company that removed the garbage (because the company wouldn't give in to the government's corruption). Consequently, there were piles of garbage everywhere. I saw poor beggars in the street. I saw the little outdoor kiosks selling food (unless you've been there for several years, I don't recommend ordering food from them).

That was all the time I could get off from work to go.

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A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."